Folkbiology doesn’t come from Folkpsychology: evidence from Yukatek Maya in cross-cultural perspective

Nearly all psychological research on basic cognitive processes of category formation and reasoning uses sample populations associated with large research institutions in technologically-advanced societies. Lopsided attention to a select participant pool risks biasing interpretation, no matter how large the sample or how statistically reliable the results. The experiments in this article address this limitation. Earlier research with urban-USA children suggests that biological concepts are (1) thoroughly enmeshed with their notions of naive psychology, and (2) strikingly human-centered. Thus, if children are to develop a causally appropriate model of biology, in which humans are seen as simply one animal among many, they must undergo fundamental conceptual change. Such change supposedly occurs between 7 and 10 years of age, when the human-centered view is discarded. The experiments reported here with Yukatek Maya speakers challenge the empirical generality and theoretical importance of these claims. Part 1 shows that young Maya children do not anthropocentrically interpret the biological world. The anthropocentric bias of American children appears to owe to a lack of cultural familiarity with non-human biological kinds, not to initial causal understanding of folkbiology as such. Part 2 shows that by age of 4-5 (the earliest age tested in this regard) Yukatek Maya children employ a concept of innate species potential or underlying essence much as urban American children seem to, namely, as an inferential framework for understanding the affiliation of an organism to a biological species, and for projecting known and unknown biological properties to organisms in the face of uncertainty. Together, these experiments indicate that folkpsychology cannot be the initial source of folkbiology. They also underscore the possibility of a species-wide and domain-specific basis for acquiring knowledge about the living world that is constrained and modified but not caused or created by prior nonbiological thinking and subsequent cultural experience.

Octave Uzanne’s L’Éventail: a literary mythology of the fan

In the last half of the nineteenth century, the folding fan was phenomenally popular in France. The accessory was a ubiquitous component of women’s dress, yet it also attracted the attention of some prominent collectors and Orientalists as well as acquiring an importance in the art and literature of the period. In many plastic works and literary texts devoted to it, the fan retains a link with femininity, and particularly with feminine sexuality, even as its identity as an art object is emphasized. Octave Uzanne’s L’Éventail (1882), a self-professed literary history of the fan, exemplifies this dualistic treatment as it presents the fan both as a titillating intimate companion of women and as a literary and (although to a lesser extent) art historical subject. This article focuses on Uzanne’s treatment of the fan’s early history in the Far and Middle East. By comparing his text with other contemporary histories of the fan, it demonstrates that the “history” of the accessory may be more accurately described as a mythology.

Modulating mythology in a post-traumatic era: Murals and re-imaging in Northern Ireland.

Arguably the most ancient of the social media, wall paintings have been a persistent vehicle of cultural meaning management. The dynamics of myth markets are reflected in the sectarian murals of Northern Ireland. In this paper, we draw from consumer research literature on mythology and street art to explore the continuous revision of these wallscapes that seeks to address the enduring contradictions of civic ideology in contested political space. In particular, we focus on the use of classical, historical and pop-cultural mythologies to transform private space into public place. We examine the decommissioning of murals occurring in the wake of the Peace Accords, and speculate on the implications of the creation of a shared mythology for the future of mural painting and the state.

Curso: Filosofía maya-tojolabal hoy II

Continuaremos el trabajo del semestre anterior, es decir, que expondremos el filosofar tojolabal en su particularidad y a diferencia del filosofar occidental. El NOSOTROS sigue siendo el concepto clave a partir del cual se explica la organización socio-política, la particularidad de la educación y otros aspectos idiosincráticos de la cosmovisión y cosmovivencia del filosofar de éste y otros pueblos mayas y también de otros pueblos originarios. Los libros de texto y las lecturas recomendadas señalan los temas que enfocaremos. Otra vez notaremos que el idioma tojolabal nos abre la puerta para entrar al filosofar tan característico de los tojolabales. Pensamos que el mismo enfoque de las lenguas respectivas podría abrirnos una entrada al filosofar occidental, aunque los conceptos destacados no siempre se explicarían en los libros de filósofos occidentales. Lo observaremos al comparar conceptos claves del filosofar tojolabal con los correspondientes del español y otras lenguas de sociedades dominantes. Por ejemplo, personas occidentales se sienten bien al decirles que son jóvenes aunque no lo sean, y todo lo contrario al decirles que son viejos o ancianos. Nadie quiere ser anciano ni viejo. En tojolabal, en cambio, no se glorifica la juventud pero sí se respeta la vejez. Basta la breve referencia que a lo largo del semestre tendremos tiempo para ampliarla.

Bonds away : baseball mythology and the 2007 home run chase

In 2007, Barry Bonds hit his 75 6th home run, breaking Hank Aaron's all-time record for most home runs in a Major League career. While it would be expected that such an accomplishment would induce unending praise and adulationfor the new record-holder, Bonds did not receive the treatment typically reserved for a beloved baseball hero. The purpose of this thesis is to assess media representations of the 2007 home run chase in order to shed light upon the factors which led to the mixed representations which accompanied BOlTds ' assault on Aaron's record. Drawingfrom Roland Barthes ' concept of myth, this thesis proposes that Bonds was portrayed in predominantly negative ways because he was seen as failing to embody the values of baseball's mythology. Using a qualitative content analysis of three major American newspapers, this thesis examines portrayals of Bonds and how he was shown both to represent and oppose elements from baseball's mythology, such as youth, and a distant, agrarian past. Recognizing the ways in which baseball is associated with American life, the media representations of Bonds are also evaluated to discern whether he was portrayed as personifYing a distinctly American set of values. The results indicate that, in media coverage of the 2007 home run chase, Bonds was depicted as a player of many contradictions. Most commonly, Bonds' athletic ability and career achievements were contrasted with unflattering descriptions of his character, including discussions of his alleged use of performance-enhancing substances. However, some coverage portrayed Bonds as embodying baseball myth. The findings contribute to an appreciation of the importance of historical context in examining media representations. This understanding is enhanced by an analysis of a selection of articles on Mark McGwire 's record-breaking season in 1998, and careful consideration of, and comparison to, the context under which Bonds performed in 2007. Findings are also shown to support the contemporary existence of a strong American baseball mythology. That Bonds is both condemned for failing to uphold the mythology and praised for personifYing it suggests that the values seen as inherent to baseball continue to act as an American cultural benchmark.

Toponimia maya-hispano-nahoa

UANL

Arte de la lengua maya

UANL

Modelo de gestión de riesgos para la reducción de daños económicos ante impacto de huracanes. Caso empresas hoteleras turísticas en Cancún-Riviera Maya-Cozumel.

Tesis (Doctorado en Contaduría) UANL, 2012.

Maya Nadig im Gespräch

Prof. Dr. Maya Nadig (Universität Bremen, Fachbereich Kulturwissenschaft) im Gespräch mit Dr. Wolfgang Hegener am 2. Mai 1998 in Berlin. Das Interview wurde zusammen mit Dr. Heidi Möller geplant und bearbeitet.

First Attempt with Maya

3d modeling and rendering is one of the thinks I really like. Talking about 3D Studio Max or Cinema 4D it was very easy to understand and I just get used to it, wile Maya is absolutely different. So I starting to learn it by myself and it seems to be very interesting. Here is the first render. It is an old silver Russian ruble.

Germana Amèrica : el món maia. 'Hermana América : el mundo maya'.

Se repasan los principales rasgos de la cultura maya y la influencia de la cultura española de los siglos XVII y XVIII. Se comenta el modo de vida de los mayas y los ricos hispanos, su influencia en el urbanismo y la arquitectura de Guatemala, así como la actividad agrícola que se divide en las explotaciones tradicionales para autoconsumo y aquellas orientadas a la exportación.

La aritmética Maya.

Se trata de dar importancia a las Matemáticas de las principales civilizaciones que nos preceden en el tiempo. Entre ellas, se destaca el sistema vigesimal que empleaban los Mayas, cuya superioridad con el resto de sistemas vigesimales reside en: el descubrimiento y uso del cero; la sencillez rotacional de sus guarismos, y el haber implicado en su sistema las opciones antropomórfica y astronómica.